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listener
Contributor
Contributor

sparse lun

How can I tell if a vmdk file I have is sparse or not?

thanks,

- h

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Not exactly sure what you mean!?

From the GUI you can take a look at the VM's HDD settings or the datastore browser to find out. On the console, you can look at the vmdk descriptor file.

André

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listener
Contributor
Contributor

I mean how can you tell if the vmdk file is thin or thick without actually doing something like adding zeros to it with "vmkfstools -k"

  1. vmkfstools -k win2k3sp2_64v_harb-07.vmdk

Eager zeroing operation is not allowed on virtual disk win2k3sp2_64v_harb-07.vmdk of type "eagerzeroedthick"

  1. vmkfstools -K win2k3sp2_64v_harb-07.vmdk

Hole Punching: 100% done.

Is there something that will just tell me if its "thin"?

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jamesbowling
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

You can check out this script: http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-10885

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listener
Contributor
Contributor

I would have preferred a simple command. The script is nice, but overkill for what I needed.

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jamesbowling
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

I am not sure that there is a simple command such as vmkfstools you can run to get that information. Most of the time I would believe you need to utilize the API to get that information.

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jamesbowling
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

You could grep for ddb.thinProvisioned in the VMDK as this will be set to 1 if it is.

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James B. | Blog: http://www.vSential.com | Twitter: @vSential --- If you found this helpful then please awards helpful or correct points accordingly. Thanks!
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prashantrangi
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Contributor

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